Alone In A Jeep – 6000k Through the Natural World of Namibia
Leaving the homeland for the trip “Alone 6000k through the natural world of Namibia”.
… arriving in Windhoek / Namibia late afternoon. My first encounter with Photography in Africa – Wildlife – sort of big sign of a Warthog. “Safari already, at the airport?” No, not quite. The next morning, 8 am… yawn, the handover of my rental 4×4 Jeep took about 1 1/2 hours. The company explains everything, even the smallest thing you can imagine. Most important for me was the compressor to refill the tires with air again after off-road driving. If you do not want to pump up your tires for about 30-45min per hand, rent a compressor! Off-road, a large part of Namibia roads are gravel roads or real off-road!
My rental jeep with the rooftop tent opened up. I slept very well in this tent. It was easy to set up and to close.
My edit on rooftop tents in 2019; when folded down / closed and you can close the cover with a zipper, that goes very fast. You can close it down within 2-3min. But some of these rooftop tents have just a cover, not attached with a zipper, they need to be tied down! To close down that kind of a tent alone takes much more time! You might have to climb on the roof as well to do so to get all proper done that the cover does not fly away while driving! Also, they fill up with air while driving which generates a big air bubble under the cover. Over 100km/h speed the car most likely starts to shake a bit! Not pleasant in my opinion.
Wildlife And Landscape Photography in Africa
The journey, wildlife and landscape photography in Africa began, sort of, first, stop … Supermarket to fill my empty fridge in the trunk. Yep, I had a fridge, a great thing to have along, really. The Savannah Dry for the eve’s had to stay cool, somehow. Water the most essential in Namibia, about 20 bottles each 1.5L. Of course, some food came along as well. When all was “secured” in the fridge & trunk finally the real journey started. Gas tank full, the fridge full, GPS set, paper map on the side and most important besides the water all batteries of my photography gear loaded to the edge, camera bag handy on the passenger’s seat front. Tripod, where was that? Right, trunk, okay when I need to lower the air pressure on the gravel road I need to get it to the front.
Set and there I started my journey through the unending wilderness, the natural world of Namibia. Not to forget, in the hope to see some of the beautiful elusive animals and the most famous African animals, of course.
Namib Naukluft National Park
Namib Naukluft National Park was already waiting for me, the famous red dunes first. I had to do a reservation at Sesriem Campsite, all other days I actually wanted to stop by were fully booked. Yes, Camping ground! I recommend checking quite early before you travel if they have space for you at the Campground or Camps. It took me about 6 hours to get there via the Spreetshoogte Pass – Solitaire, a must stop, taking pictures on the way, finally Sesriem Campsite around 6 pm.
The famous sand dunes of Sossusvlei in Namibia, Africa. This scenery picture and more landscape photo prints you find in my nature photography portfolio available.
Next day wake up call, 5 am… getting ready and trying to be the last one in line at the gate to get into the park. Gate opens 1 hour before sunrise. For Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei I got some great suggestions from friends: “Take your time when you drive into the park, stop here and there for your photographs, all tourists go straight to the Dead Vlei!” My thought was, follow the crowd as the last one for my photo stops, no car will pass and whirl up dust! Easy to accomplish to be the last one.
The Natural World
The first beautiful red dunes showed up a few K’s after the gate! The sun just started to glimpse a bit over the mountains behind me. Wow-what colorful dunes, what the natural world shows off was just amazing. 45K, suddenly all cars in front of me turned to the left to the dune 45. That surprised me a bit, I thought all go straight to Dead Vlei! Well, I went then straight to Dead Vlei to have it all for myself! That was really a bliss. What did I learn, be the last and be there first? About 1 hour later the place started to fill up with people. I stayed 2 nights at Namib Desert Park before I continued to Luderitz and Fish River Canyon.
Luderitz, geez, 30km before the town, I was asking my GPS: People actually live here? Sand where ever I look, sand dunes and more sand.
Namibia In Photographs
Photographs of all my journeys you will find in my stock photographs, the majority is available for stock photo license or royalty-free. African wildlife prints and landscape photography prints of my journeys are available to buy on my website or contact me. We sell landscape and wild animals large photo prints custom sizes and wide and standard photo print sizes. Nature photo prints in all various high-quality print finishes are available for you to choose from. We are aware that not all standard sizes fit in every home decor or office. Please contact us for your custom size. Client testimonials from clients.
You might be interested in African Desert Elephants in the natural world of Namibia, freely roaming, or my Journey to the wild Arctic in Svalbard. All my trips you can find under the category Anette’s Journey.
We as well offer Photo Tours: Tailored Photo Tours just for you in private and Japan Wildlife Photo Tours in a group of 6.
Namibia is a well-known destination for its diverse nature. Read more about why many excited photographers love this amazing natural paradise.
Read more: Wild Animals Photography – Amazing Photographs for Everyone
what about adding an image of the 4×4 you drove? 🙂
Hi there,
thanks for your note. What Club are you talking about ? Is that on G+ ?
If so, please just send me an invitation for that.
Thank you very much
Ciao
Anette
Great post and images 🙂